Mists of Avalon: A Rant

[mizarchivist]

When I was a teenager, I absolutely loved The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. LOVED. I read it through at least once then 3/4 of the way another 2 times between the ages of 14 and 17. So, when it came around, all 50-million hours of it, on Audible for under 6 dollars? Sure, why not. I really like Davina Porter as a narrator in books past

Comments

[woodwardiocom]

I kept meaning to read that...

[mizarchivist]

I do need to say: I am glad I read it when I did. It was very important as my growth as a feminist and non-Christian. A starting point. I walked down that path from there and I need binoculars and GPS to recall exactly where I was in my development. Happily, I don't have to revisit this book, in fact maybe best to leave it in my memory as a formerly awesome thing.

While I can't recommend it as a good read, I am happy to loan it to you if you want to see what it's all about for yourself.

[woodwardiocom]

My "to-read" stack is very large, and not shrinking, so if I take you up on that offer, it will likely be after we've seen Roo and Crime Fighter off to college...

[mizarchivist]

Well, the offer stands.

A matter of perspective

[drwex]

I got so turned off by the awful writing that I bailed out the first time on page 17. I was told years later that I ought to read it (and had read other MZB by then) so I tried again. Got to page 25, I think, and set the thing down. Could not see myself slogging through that much muck.

Re: A matter of perspective

[mizarchivist]

From the writing style alone... Yep.

Re: A matter of perspective

[sauergeek]

I've only tried getting through this once, and failed. The writing was just too appalling. It so put me off MZB that I've never touched anything else of hers. She's a better writer elsewhere?

Re: A matter of perspective

[mizarchivist]

I have vague memories of the Darkover series being better here and there. caulay or randysmith would be better people to ask, though, as I've not read any of 'em in easily 20+ years.

[dreda]

You do know not to read any of the related books, right? Forest House and whatnot? They limbo right under this low bar.

(Again, I have great respect for the existence of the book and the author and it is a Big Deal Book. But ... oh, it could have been so much better...)

[asciikitty]

See, and I am willing to keep a copy of Lady of Avalon, because the stories might be bad but they're at least SHORT.

[minkrose]

I remember loving it when I was younger, too -- but I was definitely surprised when you told me you were re-reading it! I know I revisited them in college and then read two other books from the series (The Forest House, Lady of Avalon) and I could tell I wasn't going to enjoy them again later. Andy owns a TON of MZB that is not Avalon related, and I've been planning to read that soon. We *finally* merged our book collections this year, and as I unpacked the boxes, I realised how much MZB is available to me!

Did you ever watch the TV series? I'm sure it's still problematic but I remember enjoying it... But I seriously heart Michael Vartan in anything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mists_of_Avalon_(TV_miniseries)

[randysmith]

I've never read MoA (somewhat to my sorrow--it's very much the "kind" of book I think of myself as liking a lot--but this post isn't making it any likelier that I'm going to get to it) but my experience of MZB in general is *wow* the quality varies. Just within the Darkover series, there were awesome books, and there were terrible books. So I'm not actually surprised :-J.